WHILE he was “under the gun” inside the Red House during the attempted coup of July 27,1990, then prime minister Arthur NR Robinson was given a note by a member of the Jamaat al Muslimeen. The note was from his wife Patricia and it contained three simple words, “I love you.” Father Garfield Rochard made this disclosure at he delivered the homily at Patricia Robinson’s funeral at the Church of the Assumption, Maraval yesterday.

Rochard said no one knows to this day how Patricia was able to get this note to her husband. He added the fact that one of his captors brought him the note would have given the former prime minister hope that “their hearts are not that hard” and there was a way out of that crisis. “In the darkest days. In the most difficult moments, we know the strength of people. We need bridge builders, not bridge dividers,” he declared.

Describing Patricia as Robinson’s “soul mate, close advisor and friend,” he said the relationship between this woman from Trinidad and this man from Tobago, reflected all that was good about the country. He said it was while Robinson was prime minister that Tobago earned “the respect and dignity needed in this republic.”

Apart from her professional achievements and being a faithful wife to Robinson while he was prime minister and president, Rochard said Patricia was a devout Catholic. He added the example she set both in the church and in society was one which catholics should emulate at a time when the question of “what does it mean to be Catholic?” is being asked.